Introduction
The p5.js project dates its origin to 2013, when Lauren Lee McCarthy reinterpreted Processing for the web. The open JavaScript tool connects creative coding with later generative artworks: Emily Xie explicitly names p5.js as the medium of Memories of Qilin.
RESEARCH ACCOUNT
A documented connection from a creative environment to a work
ANTI-AI ARCHIVE · Revised 2026-10-03
A 2013 origin and continuing maintenance
The project’s People page attributes p5.js’s creation in 2013 to Lauren Lee McCarthy and explains its relationship to Processing and the community. Year precision is retained; later editors, library features and governance arrangements should not be projected onto its first version.
Section sources: People
The browser and open learning
The current site describes an open JavaScript library for visual, sonic, interactive and experimental work, accompanied by learning materials. Its art-historical significance concerns access and knowledge exchange: people can read, alter and run programs, rather than receive only an output image.
Section sources: About
The specific connection to Memories of Qilin
Xie explicitly lists JavaScript and p5.js on the work page, documenting the tool connection. This neither makes p5.js inherently an NFT technology nor establishes machine learning in the work; its 2022 dependency version still requires code inspection.
Section sources: MEMORIES OF QILIN
Sources for this account
Read the opening 2013 origin statement and Lauren Lee McCarthy entry; contributor biographies were not comprehensively audited.
Read What is p5.js and Community Statement; the current introduction is not a snapshot of the 2013 software.
Read work statement, YEAR 2022 and MEDIUM Javascript w/ p5.js; code not audited and no evidence obtained of a trained model in this work.
Project origin and artist’s medium credit checked; early commits and Qilin’s dependency version not audited. The account and translation are AI-assisted, pending independent human review. Section references identify evidence without claiming independent verification of every historical statement.
Continue with a comparative question
p5.js explicitly identifies Processing as a reference for its origin.
Xie’s work page explicitly credits p5.js.
Further comparison: Geometry Runners: animation and interaction as the work
Further comparison: entretiempos: from composition to the pace of viewing
Further comparison: Loom: generating weaving instructions at transaction time
Further comparison: FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT: text generation and social-media critique
Further comparison: Pigments: changing micro- and macro-environments
Further comparison: The Harvest: procedural alien landscapes in p5.js
Further comparison: Endless Nameless: dividing a square into colour relationships
Further comparison: glitch crystal monsters: connecting sustained coding with live performance
Further comparison: re-move.org: generative interaction without instructions
Further comparison: Reading a book: pixel disturbance and reset
Dates & version record
Date displayed for this node: 2013 · Historical date recorded for the source: 2013
2013 is the project’s stated creation year, not a verified release date for a particular version.
These dates refer to the historical event or recorded version, not this page’s publication date. The original date precision and unresolved questions are retained.
Original sources & further reading
These links lead to the cited paper, article, institution or conference page. External texts retain their source languages.
Project origin and artist’s medium credit checked; early commits and Qilin’s dependency version not audited.
Provenance, translation & verification
Archive node #076 · Generative-art history: research, works and execution
Research materials & supplement references · 1
Generative art to crypto art: source register (3 October 2026) · Read the opening 2013 origin statement and Lauren Lee McCarthy entry; contributor biographies were not comprehensively audited. · 002
Date as recorded: 2013
People ↗
People
Archive account based on the listed research materials, not a full translation of the linked work. AI-assisted translation; independent human review pending.
Official material was read within the stated scope; see the source note for reading limits and outstanding checks.
Cite this node
ANTI-AI ARCHIVE. p5.js: creative coding for the web. Art-history node #076. https://salondesrefuses.cn/en/art-history/249
For specific historical claims, also cite the original sources above and include your access date. This account is not a full translation of the linked work.
Adjacent nodes follow chronological order; adjacency does not establish direct influence or causation.